Ashtar (Ashtarout) is Arabic for Aphrodite who became a symbol of eternal love. Ashtar also (sometimes called Ashtar Sheran) is the name given to an extraterrestrial being or group of beings which some number of people claim to have channeled. UFO contactee George Van Tassel was the first to have claimed to have received a message, in 1952, from Ashtar. Since then many different claims about Ashtar have appeared in different contexts. The Ashtar movement is studied by academics as a prominent form of UFO religion.